Melissa Lee, ProPropertySearch.Com

This is great information on 1031 Exchanges. Sometimes it's not always the best move and sometimes it can save thousands. Give us a call/text/email for more information on whether a 1031 Exchange is right for you're situation.

Source: http://www.expertrealestatetips.net/

If a local client needs to sell their house to buy a new home, first we evaluate market value and net proceeds of their current home. Other items to consider are the potential cost of inspection items, needed repairs and cosmetic items. Then we put them in contact with a lender to get pre-approved. Doing these will assist in determining if the desired move to another home is realistic.

Once we have the go ahead, we focus on staging, listing and marketing first. Then we start combing the market for their new home. I like for them to find two or three homes they love so that once their home goes under contract, they have a good idea of what they want ... especially if it sells quickly.

With a contract on their home in place, we'll check the MLS for any new listings that have come on the market since we last looked and make appointments to view good candidates. The sellers are ready to make offers on their favorite home/s at this point.

While it's a good idea for the seller to check on availability of potential homes prior to listing their home for sale, actually making an offer may not be the best next step. First, the seller will have more negotiating power once their home is under contract. And, other sellers may not be interested in negotiating with someone who has not even listed their home. Most builders in our area will not accept a contingency offer unless the clients home is under contract and listed with a Realtor.

It seems the most important first step is for someone in this position to contact their Realtor and lender. It could save a lot of headache and frustration for everyone. It's always fun to look at potential new homes first, but before getting too serious... please take the first step.

Ok Active Rainers, now it's your turn. What are your thoughts? Do you have a better way? Do you do things differently? Are you coming across more folks in this position these days? I want to know.

Pictures source: 123rf.com, www.csmonitor.com, frontdoor.com

Here's the scene...

i'm driving home after picking up my 12 year old daughter from an after school function in Ofallon IL. She happens to have her camera.

She notices the gorgeous sky and asks me to pull over so she can take a picture. I'm in a hurry to get back to work... at first I was impatient and asked, "Really? Do we have to?"

Not wanting to lose the opportunity, she snaps the picture while we're driving.

Seconds later I looked up and took in the brilliant sky, "Wow! That is beautiful. You're absolutely right," I said. "We should stop." I pulled over to the side of the road. My daughter continued to take more pictures and we enjoyed every second. This was the first picture she took... my favorite.

The cars on the road below the vast sky and huge rippled clouds remind me that we really need to keep things in perspective. Albeit cliche, let's stop and smell the roses once in awhile. It refreshes the soul and reminds us to be grateful for and take time for the precious people around us and world we live in including our family, our friends, the sky and the clouds... Genius perspective that can get a little lost in the day to day grind.

My daughter is often wise beyond her years and I thank her for giving us this Kodak moment.

This post is written as a submission to the ActiveRain 'Kodak Moments' contest. I have the chance to win the KODAK EASYSHARE M580 Digital Camera.

To participate in the ActiveRain contest, visit the blog post announcing the contest from Kodak and ActiveRain.

If you're trying to sell or thinking about selling your O'Fallon, Belleville, Shiloh, Mascoutah, IL home, this is a must read by Alan May, Coldwell Banker Realtor in Evanston. Please feel free to contact me directly at 618-972-0836 for a personalized assessment of your property.

7 Reasons why your property won't sell

1. Your property won't sell because your photos are "less than impressive". The vast majority of home buyers start their search for a home on the Internet, so your property had better look fantastic in print. Not just nice, it has to look downright fabulous. Today an internet view is the same as a 'virtual showing'... if your house gets past that, then they might (just might) make an appointment to see it in person... You should really consider that your SECOND showing. Today's online viewers are expecting good quality photos (and lots of them...the picture below... taken from Google Maps... is completely unacceptable. That's a $500,000 listing, take a moment and your digital camera and force your agent to go earn their commission), a virtual tour, maybe even a floor plan, and they need to be high-quality, or don't bother.

2. Your property won't sell because it's overpriced. It's important to be as objective as you possibly can. Look at the home as though you were a "buyer"... if necessary, make an appointment with your Realtor to view other properties that are priced comparably to yours. Be brutally objective. Given the other options on the market (and yes, you DO have to include short sales and foreclosures on your list... your potential buyers are!), would YOU buy your home, over the others that are currently available on the market?

If the answer is "NO", (and try to be as honest as you can) well then you have your work cut out for you, don't you? You either have to "update" your home to meet or beat the competition...(that might mean an updated bathroom or kitchen, or neutralizing some decorating... remove that old wallpaper that was there when you bought the house or lower your price to adjust for it. if you can't afford to sell it for the price, that you KNOW it should sell for, this may not be the right market for you to sell. Consider taking it off-market.

3. Your property won't sell because it shows badly. This could mean almost anything... from the 60 pound Rottweiler, barking and drooling at the potential buyers from behind the safety of the flimsiest child-gate, to the lingering smell of 30-years of smoking. Maybe the carpeting shows traffic-pattern wear, or your windows allow in slightly more than daylight. All things that aren't visible from the internet, but whoa.... once you get inside the house... they show up, like a cat-urine-soaked-shag carpet on a 95 degree day in New Orleans!

4. Your property won't sell because you're invisible. Today's buyer comes from the internet, almost exclusively. Have you (or your agent) simply plopped the property on the MLS, and started praying? Are you on all the websites...(Trulia, Zillow, Craig's List, Google Base, etc...) all the places that buyers are searching? If not, you need to be, now! Don't try to be a secret, in today's electronic world. You want to be found, and the sooner the better.

5. Your property won't sell because your listing is tired and stale on the market. Okay... yes, you overpriced your home initially when you first came on the market a year and a half ago. But since then you have reduced your price almost monthly, constantly chasing the market down. Now, finally you're truly priced where you believe should be, but your listing (not your house) has become tired and stale. Everyone who is looking for your type of property (ie: 3br/1.1 bath) in your area has already seen the listing online, or in person and they remember that there was "something" about it that they didn't like... but what they don't remember is... what they didn't like.... was the price. Time to take the listing off market. Let it cool off (3-6 months), and bring it back on fresh in the Spring. Yeah, you'll have 6 mos. worth of holding-costs... but you'll more than make up for it in your purchase price.

btw... Resist the temptation to bring the house back on at a higher price, than when you left the market. Just "don't do it"!

6. Your property won't sell because your house won't appraise. The house looks great... you've finally gotten someone to bring you a bid on your slightly over-priced, but beautiful pied-a-terre. But the bank appraiser says it's worth $20,000 less than your buyer has agreed to pay. Heavy sigh... bite the bullet.... negotiate with them. If you have to drop the price $20,000 to make it work.... "make it work"... chances are, anybody else trying to buy your house will run into the same problem. If you're not willing to negotiate the difference, you may find yourself with no buyer, and accepting a lower offer somewhere down the line.

7. Your property won't sell because it's unavailable to show. You have a baby, and a 1-year old. And they need their naps. So you've told your Realtor in no-uncertain-terms, that you'll only allow showings between 9:00a.m - Noon, and then again from 2:30-5:30 p.m. And no showings on Saturday or Sundays. "After all", you've told him "we still live here.. it's our home!". Well guess what? They can't buy it, if they can't see it. As good as your online photos are, they're no substitute for an in-person visit. "If they really want to see it, they'll reschedule", you're already answering as you read this. Nonsense! What they'll do, is they'll just move on to the next property in line (there are dozens like yours available) and maybe they'll buy that one instead. Once you put your property on the market it stops being your "home", and has become your "product". And you want your product to be seen by as large a buying audience as possible.

So, there you have it. Stick around another year and half. Who knows, maybe by August of 2013, I'll have EIGHT reasons why your property won't sell!

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